Peanuts: Search and Destroy

Wasn't the message of the show A Charlie Brown Christmas about "the true meaning of Christmas" as opposed to commercialism--that is, shopping, for example? Of course, with all the Snoopy dolls, and comic strip collections and games and greeting cards and everything else, we must realize that the "true meaning" is to go out and buy!

I think the strip also began to quit emphasizing the holiday at that time as well.

But the writer (or writers) went through the same plots of Lucy yanking the football from Charlie Brown, of Charlie Brown losing ballgames, etc. even as Snoopy got lost in the desert with his brothers. The new stories didn't make sense and the old ones were worn out. Worse, one wonders if any of the newspapers actually had the guts to drop the strip in favor of newer strips.

The strip had become a narcotic. Had it not been there, perhaps more newspaper editors and readers would have demanded change. But they remained set in their ways--and too many still do. We should be thankful that a few papers have dropped the Peanuts comic strip, but that number is too few.

They are great because they are lame! They make the other ones seem funny.

Am I missing something?

(+ I thought old C&Hs were being reprinted in newspapers, but maybe I'm wrong.)

I sincerely doubt it...newspaper publishers don't like the comic strips in the first place because they take up valuable space that could be used on ad pages. This is why the size of the comics has been shrunken down so much over the past 15 years or so. If the current comic strips were done away with they would not be replaced. Esp. since the readership for newspapers in general has aged so much.

Gil Thorp has REALLY gone in the shitter. It's barely literate! (And no points for the Orel Hershiser guest appearance!)

Zippy is godawful. Sorry.

The same goes for Funky Winkerbean's transmogrification into a Melrose-Place-for-geeks cesspool. And regardless of FBOFW's past, turning into a hybrid of Mary Worth and Hi & Lois didn't do a damn thing for me. There's the "funny" page, and there's the "serious" page - STAY ON THE FUNNY PAGE DAMN IT.

Example of newer Peanuts (as seen on my bathroom wall): Lucy & Charlie on the pitchers mound. Lucy sez, "Here's the roster for the other team: Francis, Horatio, Ludwig, Chandler, Francisco, etc etc etc" - all these "unique" male names. Fourth panel - close-up of Charlie, wistful expression (akin to the "rapturous contemplation" look found in every damn FBOFW strip, but, y'know, Peanuts style), and he says, "No one's named Bill anymore." Um. Five cents, please?

Add to my list: Zits, Monty (PKA Robotman), Liberty Meadows, Soup to Nutz, and Rex Morgan MD (as long as Graham Nolan is the artiste).

Aw yeah, Mutts is nice.

Let me specify -- when humor was attempted, it was of the cheese variety. When soppiness was attempted, it made me want to pound walls down. When prompted to appreciate how wossname knows his comic artists of the past, I reflect on how The Boondocks looks like the first honestly modern strip in years. Etc.

One panel. Linus, Charlie, and Snoopy are lounging in A Forest. Linus & Charlie lean against a tree, Snoopy against a rock.

Linus: "I hear you've decided no to go to summer camp after all..."

Charlie: "When you have a dog, you should stay home, and make your dog happy ... that's what you should do ... you should stay home..."

Snoopy: "Except for those obviously necessary short trips in to buy dog food..."

http://www.citypaper.com/archives/funny.html

As for y'all's Zippy bashing: Interweb mentalists! Interweb mentalists! Interweb mentalists!

http://www.deeptrancenow.com/images/marmaduke.jpg

Martin S - I'd say that the first ten years or so of Johnny Hart's BC are v. underrated; Mort Walker sustained a pretty gd standard on 'Beetle Bailey' for many years; and I love the drawing style of Dik Browne on 'Hagar' and 'Hi and Lois' - crosshatching to rival Crumb's. These are just off the top of my head, but my point is that 'Peanuts' is obv. a work of genius, but it wasn't THAT much better than many of its peers in the post-war gag strip stakes, at least for the first ten or so years of its run...

Ernie Bushmiller's Nancy is indeed a rare and beautiful thing. As is 'Barnaby' by Crockett Johnson, Bill Watterson's main source for 'Calvin and Hobbes'.

http://home.att.net/~k-doyle/Cats/mutts.jpg

besides anything, I mean. but it's so cute!

There. Now even Marmaduke seems hilarious.

Felicity, your cartoon is awesome.

Is that a Bushmiller Nancy? He died in '82, but he was only "supervising" the strip from about '78 or '79. Willie Johnson did the dailies and ex-Superman artist Al Plastino did the Sundays. I really like EB's late Nancy strips, when it was so stunningly codified that there were rumours he used rubber stamps to produce the strip.

good question, Martin. I thought so, although I can't read the date there. It's from here.

All Woodstock is doing is eating a member of his Class, Aves. As a perching bird he would be of a different Order than a turkey. So this is no different from a human eating a pig or cow (both Class Mammalia).

also nobody seems to think it's weird that big fish eat smaller fish so not sure what these folks are on about

Also some birds prey on other birds.

Also Woodstock is a cartoon

woodstock is real buddy

What happened to Lucy? After the opening football gag, she's gone for the rest of the show…

It makes sense that she wouldn’t be around for the dinner party. Peppermint Patty invited herself, Marcie, and Franklin; Sally is there because it’s her house too; Linus is there because he offered to help Charlie Brown make dinner.

But I suppose it would’ve been nice to extend an invitation to grandma’s condo to her since her/Linus’ family apparently didn’t have plans for the day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofzyGL8-rxc

So guess what you can get for $25.

(Essentially: everything.)

https://www.humblebundle.com/books/collected-peanuts-fantagraphics-books

collected strips like Snoopy vs. the Red Baron, and graphic novels like Batter Up, Charlie Brown!

nb that there are no graphic novels in this bundle

Not even Snoopy vs. Spawn?

So guess what you can get for $25.

(Essentially: everything.)

https://www.humblebundle.com/books/collected-peanuts-fantagraphics-books🕸

oh it’s pdfs

xpost

I don't really do digital comics, but my Fanta Peanuts volumes stop at 1979 and this would be a good cheap way to get those generally disappointing last twenty years. Sadly, 'not available in my area'.

Saw there was also a Love and Rockets humblebundle offer recently that was just insanely good value.

not available in UK